Among the Things I Have, I'm Glad Scabies Isn't One of Them
However, I do have shingles. Which makes me soooooooo happy compared to the prospect of having to contend with fucking scabies. There was a scabies outbreak of sorts awhile back where I work (well, not directly where I work, but within the organization) so this was not an unfounded fear. Do you know what scabies are? Basically what happens is that scary little fucker pictured above burrows under your skin, lays eggs, makes you itch like crazy, etc. So last night as I lay in bed itching like mad, I'm thinking, "Is it scabies? Is it shingles? Is it scabies? Is it shingles?" As you can imagine, just thinking about a mite living under my skin was really getting under my skin.Today at the walk-in clinic, the doctor walks in and says, "So you have a bump on your back?"
I say "Well, sort of. More like a rash. I just want you to tell me it's not scabies." He looks.
"It's not scabies."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
"You're positive."
"I'm positive. You have shingles."
"Good. Good."
He gives me a funny little wry look.
"All night I was thinking about mites burrowing into my skin. I couldn't go through that tonight. I hoped it was shingles, if it had to be something."
"I'm going to repeat it for you, so there is no doubt in your mind: YOU DO NOT HAVE SCABIES."
"Thank you."
So what are shingles? Well, if you ever had chicken pox, maybe someday you'll find out. Shingles are basically what happens when these little bits of latent chickenpox virus that are hanging out along your nerve paths decide they want to come to the surface of your skin and annoy you. They're supposed to hurt a lot, but in my case they just itch like hell. Hence my confusion relative to the scabies. The outbreak I have isn't major - a little patch about an inch wide on my back and then a handful of little dots along one side of my ribcage, dots following a nerve path. I just put pure peppermint oil on the spots, after reading that was a good treatment. It feels great! Smells nice, too.
Hate to say it, but I'm gonna get back to American Idol now...
posted by Black Egg at 8:43 PM
3 Comments:
scabies.... uuggg... months and months they kept coming back. they are the worst fucking thing on this planet.
we had a friend take the grey hound out to move in with us and she got them from a dude who sat next to her. she gave them to us. you can get them from sitting on a couch that some one sat on who had them... its freaky gross...
anyway for months we would get rid of them and then they would come back, you have to soak in this foul cream for twelve hours, bring all your furniture and beds out side for days at a time and steam clean and bleach, and all your clothings has to be prfessionally cleaned...etc. etc....
i'm getting chills... i ended up leaving that house, those friends, ALL my belongings, everything. i rented a new apartment, bought an entire new wardrobe and burned the clothes i moved in....
they kept having outbreaks there for months...
itching, shhheeeeshhh... bugs eating your skin! even today i'm phobic about itchy people... anyway, congrats on the shingles! did you ever have chicken pox? isnt that the adult version of chicken pox? baking soda baths helped me when i was a kid with the pox... good luck!
Oh God, that sounds haaaaarible! Yes, everything I imagined it to be - again, THANK GOD I DON'T HAVE SCABIES!!!!!!! FUCK!!!
Wow, really, it sounds like such a royal pain in the ass. The shingles are annoying, yes - but they dont LIVE IN MY BED.
Yup, had chicken pox as a child, so it's coming back to haunt me in this annoying little way...
YAY!
hehe, congratulations on the Shingles! Just be glad you aren't old. Shingles do a number on the elderly...but you should bounce back fine. I once freaked out about having scabies too- ended up I just had hives. They usually show up when I scratch so they were in a line (like scabies show up) Having not had hives before I was like "ahhh! bugs!" oh...just allergies? Cool-
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